Download The EU Building Stock Observatory: A New Tool to Support

The EU Building Stock Observatory: A New Tool to Support Europe’s
Building Policies
Aleksandra Arcipowska, Buildings Performance Institute Europe, Brussels, BE
Francesco Mariottini, Buildings Performance Institute Europe, Brussels, BE
ABSTRACT
In 2016, the European Union (EU) framework legislation on buildings, including the
Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD; 2010/31/EU), the Energy Efficiency Directive
(EED; 2012/27/EU) and the Renewable Energy Directive (RED; 2009/28/EC) are undergoing a
review process.
As part of the review process, the European Commission decided to establish Europe’s
Building Stock Observatory to monitor the improvement of buildings’ energy performance. This
public data portal, to be launched in 2016, will provide a comprehensive knowledge resource for
policy makers, investors, industry stakeholders, energy utilities, local and national authorities as
well as researchers to underpin decision-making, financial and long-term strategic support. The
Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) is leading the work on creating the Observatory
for the European Commission, in cooperation with national partners as well as a broad range of
stakeholders.
The goal of the following article is to present challenges and opportunities of setting up the
EU Building Stock Observatory. The paper provides an overview of the existing data sources and
strategies for buildings’ data collection in Europe. It also offers recommendations and strategies
for future data gathering.
Introduction
EU buildings policy (2016 review)
In February 2015, the European Commission published the document “Framework
Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy”
(COM/2015/080 final). This strategic document introduces the idea of an “Energy Union”
indicating a development path for the energy systems in Europe by 2030. The objective “to move
further away from an economy driven by fossil fuels” supports the EU targets agreed by the
European Council in October 2014 (SN 79/14), as follows:
•
•
•
A binding EU target of an at least 40% domestic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by
2030 compared to 1990;
A binding EU target of at least 27% is set for the share of renewable energy consumed in
the EU in 2030;
An indicative target at the EU level of at least 27% is set for improving energy efficiency
in 2030 compared to projections of future energy consumption based on the current criteria.
This target to be reviewed by 2020, having in mind an EU level of 30%.
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In the context of the energy system transition, the European Commission pays a special
attention to sectors with an important efficiency potential, in particular buildings. Europe’s
building stock is the largest single energy consumer, with buildings representing 40% of the energy
consumption in the EU and about a quarter of non-ETS direct greenhouse gas emissions (see:
Figure 1).
Figure 1 The EU building stock in figures (Source: BPIE)
Therefore, the Energy Union Strategy called for a 2016 review of the existing EU buildings
legislation, including the Directive 2010/31/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD)1
and the Directive 2012/27/EC on Energy Efficiency (EED)2 and the Directive 2009/28/EC on the
Promotion of Use of Energy for Renewable Sources (RED II)3.
Annex 1 presents an overview of the key EU legislation related to buildings.
The EU Building Stock Observatory
As part of the 2016 review process, the European Commission published a service tender4
for support in setting up the EU Building Stock Observatory to monitor the improvement of the
energy performance of buildings across Europe. The Buildings Performance Institute Europe
(BPIE) leads a consortium consisting of ECN, Enerdata, Ecofys, SeVen and 20 national partners
developing the Observatory for the European Commission. The goal of the project is to provide
the European Commission with:
1
Directive 2010/31/EU of European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of
buildings (recast); http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:153:0013:0035:EN:PDF
2
Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency,
amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC Text with
EEA relevance; http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32012L0027&from=EN
3
Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use
of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC;
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32009L0028&from=EN
4
See also tenders specification of the service tender ENER/C3/2014-543, available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/20140804_c3_2014_543_specifications.pdf
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•
•
•
A methodological framework for the monitoring of Europe’s building stock in the context of
building energy efficiency policies; including a set of quantitative indicators, guidance for data
collection and verification; as well as strategies to address the data gaps;
A snapshot of the current status of the European building stock energy performance, based on
the results of a data collection exercise across EU Member States;
A publicly available portal for dissemination and communication of results.
The main focus of the Observatory is the building stock characteristics and its energy needs,
including building energy performance and refurbishment, integration of renewable energy
technologies and the resulting or attainable energy savings. Besides quantitative data on the
building stock, the Observatory will also monitor relevant qualitative information on policies
including finance, fuel poverty, other social issues, indoor air climate and so forth.
There are over 250 indicators included in the framework of the Observatory, grouped in
six thematic areas (See: Annex 2). Defining the list of indicators for the EU Building Stock
Observatory was achieved after a consultation with a broad range of stakeholders, including
industry associations, business, building owners associations and many others, before receiving
the approval of the European Commission.
The public domain of the EU Building Stock Observatory, to be launched as part of the
DG ENER (Directorate General for Energy, European Commission) website in 2016, will serve
as a comprehensive knowledge resource for policy-makers, investors, industry stakeholders,
energy utilities, local and national authorities and researchers to underpin decision-making,
financial and long-term strategic support.
EU buildings data availability
In 2013, the Global Buildings Performance Network (GBPN), published a comparative
study on buildings data robustness in the EU, China, India and the US (Shnapp & Laustsen, 2013).
The authors of the report investigated and compared the quality and availability of buildings data
for the residential and non-residential sectors (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Buildings data availability across regions (Shnapp & Laustsen, 2013).
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The results indicate that there is a room for improvement for European buildings data
availability. Unlike the US, the EU does not have official data on the building sector as a whole
(regional level) and the quality of data varies significantly between the different states. The
findings of the analysis indicate that “the quality for both residential as well as commercial and
public buildings in the EU is lower than the US”. The type of information collected and its quality
vary significantly across EU Member States. Compared to other regions, in Europe there is a big
difference in quality and availability of data between residential and commercial buildings.
Buildings data under the European Statistics System (ESS)
Some information on buildings in Europe is available on Eurostat, an official statistics
office of the European Union. Eurostat plays a key role in the European Statistics System (ESS),
and leads the way in the harmonization of statistics in close cooperation with the national statistical
authorities.
Following statistics are collected in all EU Member States and reported in Eurostat5:
•
•
•
•
Information on housing stock characteristics, based on the population and housing
censuses, conducted every 10 years in every Member State on the basis of the Regulation N°
763/2008 (EC)6. These provide a good overview on floor area, total number of
buildings/dwellings/units, owner occupancy profile, etc.
Energy consumption in the residential sector, the Regulation N° 431/20147 introduced a
mandatory reporting of the annual national statistics on energy consumption for households as
of 2016.
Energy statistics, including energy balance, based on Regulation N° 1099/2008 (EC)8,
including information on the fuel supply in households & service sectors, onsite renewable
energy generation, and many others.
Energy poverty statistics, based on Regulation N° 1177/20039, on income and living
conditions. These provide information on household’s income, poverty rate, overcrowding
rate, housing deprivation, etc.
National data sources
Data on buildings in Europe is collected by different institutions at national and regional
levels, such as statistical offices, energy agencies, industry, research organisations and many
others. The type of data collected, the methodology (including definitions) and the frequency of
data collection vary across Member States.
5
Eurostat database is publicly available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database
Regulation (EC) N° 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and
housing censuses
7
Commission Regulation (EU) No 431/2014 of 24 April 2014 amending Regulation (EC) N° 1099/2008 of the
European Parliament and of the Council on energy statistics, as regards the implementation of annual statistics on
energy consumption in households
8
Regulation (EC) N° 1099/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 on energy
statistics
9
Regulation (EC) N° 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 June 2003 concerning
Community statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC)
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According to Eurostat (Eurostat, 2013), over half of the available data on buildings’ energy
performance is based on the surveys (See: Figure 3). Surveying is a cost-effective method to obtain
aggregated information; from the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily provide the required level of
details and consistency.
The use of administrative data, such as regional and local property registers or Energy
Performance Certificate registers, is getting more popular in Europe. While it is not compulsory
under EU legislation, all Member States have set up a central/regional register of the energy
performance certification. These databases provide useful information on buildings envelope
performance, technical system, annual energy consumption and many others.
Figure 2 Energy performance data acquisition in Europe (Eurostat, 2013)
Research projects
The European Commission estimates that around 14 million euros have been spent on
buildings’ data collection and analysis (Fereirra 2016). This appraisal includes budgets of EUfunded projects conducted within programmes such as Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE)10, the 7th
Framework Programme funded European Research and Technological Development (FP7)11 and
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation12. Examples of projects that
provide useful and unique data on Europe’s buildings are as follows:
•
•
ODYSSEE-MURE project (http://www.odyssee-mure.eu/). Databases of energy efficiency
indicators and policies in the EU. Figures on building stock characteristics, equipment
penetration rate and efficiency, existing regulations and policies and energy efficiency trends
are presented for both households and service sectors. The ODYSSEE-MURE project is
running since 1995.
ENTRANZE project (www.entranze.eu). Database on the EU building stock, energy
performance, heating energy consumption, country reports on building policies and decision
10
The Intelligent Energy Europe programme was launched in 2003 to support EU energy efficient and renewable
policies; https://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/about/iee-programme/
11
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/
12
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/
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•
•
•
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criteria, as well as a cost-optimal and cost data tool for several energy efficient material and
equipment.
The TABULA/ EPISCOPE projects (http://episcope.eu/). Database and web data tool on
building typologies in several EU countries, methodology for data collection and energy
performance indicators.
ZEBRA2020 project (http://zebra2020.eu/). Database on the EU building stock including
renovation and construction activities, nearly Zero-Energy Building and renovation activities,
technology sales data, value of property, etc.
EurObserv’ER project (http://www.eurobserv-er.org/). Database on annual stock and sales
for main renewable energy technologies across the EU MS.
Another example is the BPIE Data Hub, an independent online portal on energy performance
of buildings; launched in 2011 with private funds and today supported through EU-funding
streams (namely EPISCOPE, CommONEnergy, ZEBRA2020 projects amng others).
In addition to the above data sources on EU buildings, there are additional sources of
information such as:
•
Industrial and commercial databases (e.g. EuroHeat and Power database) as well as other
relevant projects conducted by industry associations (e.g. REHVA, EuroAce, EHPA,
EuroDoorWindows, BRSIA).
•
Other databases available in third-party countries and international organisations, such
as IEA Policy and Measures (http://www.iea.org/policiesandmeasures/), Buildings Rating
(buildingsrating.org), Energy Star database (http://www.eu-energystar.org/) and many others.
Reporting obligation under the EU legislation
There is common understanding of a need for reliable facts and figures to support strategic
policy-making. A good knowledge of the national building stock is a prerequisite for the
development of effective building strategies and programmes, such as national renovation
strategies, national plans for increasing the number of nearly Zero-Energy Buildings, setting the
national goals for the public building renovation, and more.
National renovation strategies
Under Article 4 of the Directive on Energy Efficiency (EED), Member States are obliged to
report on the status of their national building stock to the European Commission. The national
government “shall establish a long-term strategy for mobilising investment in the renovation of
the national stock of residential and commercial buildings, both public and private, that shall
encompass:
a) an overview of the national building stock based, as appropriate, on statistical sampling;
b) identification of cost-effective approaches to renovations relevant to the building type
and climatic zone;
c) policies and measures to stimulate cost-effective deep renovation of buildings, including
staged deep renovations;
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d) a forward-looking perspective to guide investment decisions of individuals, the
construction industry and financial institutions;
e) an evidence-based estimate of expected energy savings and wider benefits.”
In January 2016, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a report on the assessment of
national building renovation strategies submitted by EU Member States in 2014 (JRC, 2016). The
reported availability of data on the national building stock is presented in Figure 3.
a. Availability of data on the residential building stock
100%
80%
60%
40%
77%
90%
20%
35%
45%
29%
42%
35%
F. Tenure
G. Energy
performance
0%
A. Building B. Age bands
categories
C. Energy
label
D. Climate
zone
E. Ownership
b. Availability of data on the non-residential building stock
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
87%
52%
42%
19%
16%
0%
A. Building B. Age bands
categories
C. Energy
label
good level of detail
D. Climate
zone
E. Ownership
medium level of detail
26%
23%
F. Tenure
G. Energy
performance
no data
Figure 3. Information provided on the building stock in the Member States notifications
on Art. 4, EED (JRC, 2016)
On average, Member States reported more comprehensive information on the residential
building stock compared with the non-residential building stock. This confirms the research by
Shnapp & Laustsen referred to earlier, that major data gaps are for the non-residential building
stock. In general, the building stock has been well described though the different building
categories and age bands, while information on climatic zone ownerships and tenure status is
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missing in most cases. Data on the energy performance of buildings (including envelope
performance, insulation levels, energy needs, etc.) is made available in less than 1/3 of the Member
States.
Nearly Zero-Energy Building plans
Under Article 9 of the Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EBPD), Member
States are obliged to draw national plans for increasing the number of nearly Zero-Energy
Buildings (nZEB). These national plans shall include the Member State’s detailed application in
practice of the definition of nZEBs, targets for improving the energy performance of new
buildings, as well as information on the policies and financial or other measures for the promotion
of nZEBs, including details of national requirements and measures concerning the use of energy
from renewable sources in new buildings and existing buildings undergoing major renovation.
Public buildings renovation
Under Article 5 of the Directive on Energy Efficiency (EED), Member States are obliged
to monitor and report the 3% renovation rate to their central government buildings13. Information
on public buildings (including floor area and energy performance) should be collected and reported
to the European Commission, as a basis for calculation of the energy savings target. The directive
sets ground for establishing national inventories of the central government buildings; these public
buildings inventories aim at mapping the energy performance of existing buildings, showing useful
floor space and actual consumption (e.g. in kWh/m2 per annum, energy label). To date, public
inventories of governmental buildings are available in a few Member States, including: Denmark,
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Cyprus (BPIE, 2014).
Conclusions and recommendations
Establishing the EU Building Stock Observatory is an important step to support policymaking processes both at the European and Member State levels. The Observatory will support
monitoring of the implementation of EU directives at national and regional levels and will
contribute to their review (such as the EPBD/EED/RED reviews in the coming months).
The EU Building Stock Observatory will be an important support tool for the Member
States reporting to the European Commission as required under the different articles of the EPBD
and EED. For example, when the time comes to update their renovation strategies in 2017 – as
required under Art. 4 of the EED – Member States will be able to use the data provided in the
Observatory to assess the status of their national building stock. It will provide a comprehensive
overview of the building stock, including indicators such as: available statistics on envelope
performance, technical systems, renovations rates and many others.
This public knowledge resource will be of use not only for decision-makers, but also
investors, industry stakeholders, energy utilities, local authorities and researchers to underpin
decision-making, and for long-term strategic support. Better access to data will contribute to the
improvement of the way the building sector is being considered in economic modelling of energy
13
It applies to the heated and/or cooled buildings with a surface of more than 500m2 that are owned and occupied by
the central government. That threshold has to be lowered to 250 m2 as of July 9, 2015.
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efficiency policy options. Access to reliable information will also support effective decisionmaking in the financial sector, which is crucial for buildings renovation.
The experience of the EU Building Stock Observatory project shows, however, that we
still have a long way to go in the process of gathering reliable information on EU’s building stock.
To date, the type of data collected at the national level varies between countries; Member States
not only have different data collection strategies, but also different definitions and aggregation
procedures. This often makes it impossible for cross-country comparison at the EU level. Data
availability and quality can be improved if standardised methodologies for data collection are used,
including the type of data collected and definitions. Eurostat plays in this regard a central role for
the collection of harmonised statistics across Europe.
Unlike for the residential building stock, the information on non-residential buildings in
Europe in not easily-accessible; which was confirmed in the Buildings Observatory project, as
well as in the existing literature (JRC, 2015; Shnapp & Laustsen, 2013). New data collection
strategies would need to be implemented across Europe in order to fill the data gaps.
The biggest challenge for future data collection remains the monitoring of buildings’
renovation (i.e. quality and quantity) and the financial aspect of renovation. Existing data at
national and European levels is not sufficient; often incomplete. Sample surveys were identified
to be a transferable approach for closing the information gaps – also applicable for harmonised
international activities.
Significant input of energy data can be provided by the energy utilities under Article 7 of
the Directive 2012/27/EU that compels Member States to set up an energy efficiency obligation
scheme. That scheme shall ensure that energy distributors and/or retail energy sales companies
achieve a cumulative end-use energy savings target14. The Green Button Initiative should be
inspiring for Europe’s decision-makers to establish incentive mechanisms that would allow energy
utilities to share energy-saving data with public authorities.
Another source of data, that hasn’t yet been sufficiently exploited in Europe, is energy data
collected by Transmission and Distribution System Operators (TSO and DSO). Varied schemes
can and should be developed to mitigate data privacy concerns (legal agreements, limiting data
dis-aggregation by defining minimum quantities of commercial entities, etc.) and allow data
exchange.
14 That target shall be at least equivalent to achieving new savings each year from 1 January 2014 to 31 December
2020 of 1,5 % of the annual energy sales to final customers of all energy distributors.
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References
Arcipowska A., Making European Buildings Data useful for policy making process. World
Sustainable Energy Days Next 2014, Conference Proceedings
BPIE, 2014, Setting the 3% Target for Public Buildings Renovation. Factsheet on the status of
implementation of Art. 5, EED; http://bpie.eu/publication/bpie-factsheet-on-article-5-energyefficiency-directive/
BPIE (2014), Setting 3% target for public buildings renovation, http://bpie.eu/wpcontent/uploads/2015/10/Factsheet_BPIE-Article_5_EED.pdf
Communication form the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European
Economic and social committee, the committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank,
A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change
Policy /* COM/2015/080 final */
European Commission, Directorate – General for Energy. “Tender Specifications attached to
invitation to tender ENER/C3/2014-543; Provision of Supporting for setting up an Observatory of
the Buildings Stock and related key policies”
Eurostat, Manual for statistics on energy consumption in households - 2013 edition, Luxembourg
2013
Ferreira V. Intervention during the Building Stock Observatory project interim meeting
12/ /07/2016, Brussels, Belgium.
JRC (2015); Castellazzi L., Zangheri P., Paci D., Synthesis Report on the assessment of Member
States' building renovation strategies, JRC science for policy report. Ispra 2016. Availabe at:
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC97754/syntesis%20report%20buildi
ng%20renovation%20strategies_online%20fin.pdf
Shnapp S., Laustsen J. (2013), A Robust Building Data: A driver for policy Development –
Technical report, Global Building Performance Network
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Annex 1 An overview of the EU legislation related to buildings
Directive
2010/31/EC on
the Energy
Performance of
Buildings
Directive
2012/27/EC on
Energy
Efficiency
Directive
2009/28/EC
on the
Promotion of
Use of Energy
for Renewable
Sources
2010/31/EU Directive, recast of the 2002 version, the EPBD is the main
legislative instrument at EU level to achieve energy performance in
buildings.
The Directive entails Member States to set performance standards and
minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings and for
existing buildings undergoing major renovations; apply energy
performance certificates (EPCs) to buildings; and ensure that from 2020
only "nearly Zero-Energy Buildings" (NZEBs) are built.
2012/27/EU Directive is an important piece of the EU legislation to
achieve 20% of primary energy savings in the period 2005-2020. It
covers all sectors except transport.
Specifically, on buildings, the EED Art. 4 asks EU MS to prepare and
report long-term plans for stimulating investments in deep renovation of
buildings. Additionally, Art. 5 of the EED stipulates that all EU MS
should undertake measures to stimulate the renovation of existing
buildings owned and occupied by the central administration and to
increase the renovation rate to 3% a year, or to provide equivalent energy
savings.
2009/28/EC Directive sets levels of renewable energy use within the
European Union.
Following the RED Art.12 and 13, EU MS had to set requirements for a
minimum share of renewable energy to be used in buildings and take actions
to stimulate the market uptake of renewable technology for heating and
cooling. The targets of each individual Member State may vary depending
on their renewable energy potential, the energy mix and their gross domestic
product. MS should base their indicative trajectory to reach the renewable
energy target based on the 2005 levels.
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Annex 2. Thematic areas of the Building Stock Observatory project
Topic 1: Building stock & energy needs
T.1.1 Building stock statistics
T.1.2 Energy Needs
T.1.3 Fuel mix
Topic 2: Technical building systems
T.2.1 Envelope performance
T.2.2 On-site renewable energy generation
T.2.3 Technical systems
Space heating
Space cooling
Domestic Hot Water supply
Ventilation
Lighting
Cooking
Electrical Appliances
Metering
Others
T.2.4 Embodied energy
Topic 3: Certification
T.3.1. EPC distribution
T.3.2. Voluntary certification scheme
Topic 4: Financing
T.4.1. Average financial performance of renovation projects
T.4.2. Tariffs
T.4.3. Sources of Energy Efficiency financing and their financial performance
Debt Financing-Private debt financing for renovations (loans)
Debt Financing- Dedicated credit lines
Grants
Fiscal Incentives
Energy Performance Contracting (EPC)
Energy Efficiency Supplier Obligations
Topic 5: Fuel poverty & social aspects
T.5.1. Fuel poverty
T.5.2. Social issues
Topic 6 Policies and regulations
T.6.1 Building codes
T.6.2 National definitions
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